I have long been on the record as a harsh critic of the work of Zack Snyder. It has nothing to do with his talent. On the contrary, I find Snyder's work visually arresting, his editing and pacing on target and his films masterfully assembled pieces of art. No, my problem has always been with his choice of material. As of this writing, Snyder has made exactly three films, all of them adaptations, and none of them faithful. Worse, his last two films were adaptations of comic books that were each genre defining -- masterpieces in their own right. And Snyder had the audacity to change them, in an attempt to make them even better.

If you've never read 300, or are unfamiliar with the history of the event, I'm sure the film is awesome. It certainly looks awesome. But if you know that Leonidas isn't the main character of the book, or that his wife appears in only one frame of it (meaning the entire political posturing/rape story was invented for the film), and that the book's actual main character has a truly epic, gut-wrenching arc about becoming a man that would make Hemingway proud, then you understand my frustration watching Snyder's beautiful but hollow version of the tale. Likewise, Watchmen, listed as one of Time magazine's best 100 books of the last century, works toward a mind blowing-ending -- an ending Snyder and company set out to change ... because they felt that audiences would feel they were ripping off the show Heroes (which in turn had ripped of Watchmen).

So when I heard that Snyder was directing a film of his own creation, entirely derivative only of his own, wonderful imagination, I was elated. It is what I've been wanting to see from him all along.

Snyder is a man whose style revels in blood-soaked ultraviolence. He famously turned down a shot at directing the film SWAT because they wanted to make a PG-13 film. He loves the art of the kill and making the audience feel every painful hit. And when he's not tearing people apart limb from limb, there's nothing he loves more than a sensuous, slow-motion art shot of a beautiful, naked woman. Stylistically, he is one of a kind -- though we are beginning to see a number of imitators borrowing shots from him in a movement that might one day turn out a director or two that completely apes his structure. Most importantly, it is a style that lends itself to original storytelling. He is a man focused more upon the look of his film than anything else. That's not to say he eschews character or story, but it always comes in second.

Which is why I am so hungry to see something that is his story, something he wrote. I want to see a movie built around the visuals and fetishes inside his skull without the need to translate them through someone else's work. And to look at that trailer, with its WWII bombers dogfighting with dragons, its insane school girls doing battle with samurai statues, and its dynamic cities of the future, I know he's going to deliver some glorious, 300FPS carnage with all the trimmings without stepping on someone else's legacy. And I, for one, am truly excited about that.

What I've always loved about Snyder is his look and style. This is his first chance to draw his own road map; I can't wait to see where he goes with it.